A general Encounter Table for Sword of Cepheus

A Discord discussion of Sword of Cepheus that I took part in brought up the question of encounters.  I mentioned that I'd done up a simple table for some random encounters, and people asked about it. So I'm sharing it here.

I present to you an array of characters that adventurers may come upon in Sword of Cepheus. Gamers familiar with Classic Traveller will recognize this table, and many of the encounters listed. 

This encounter did not go well for our hero.

SoC does not give any standard encounter distances. If outdoors & daytime, the two parties might be a few hundred meters apart at first. The Referee might say they look to be "about one bow shot away" (or 2-3). In the city the range might be down to spear-throwing distances. At night, or in an indoor/underground situation they will be much closer.  Indoors an encounter will likely happen at close enough range for the two sides to speak to one another. Combat in SoC is fairly abstracted, so exact measurement is not required. Besides, how many people can accurately gauge distances outdoors by sight?  Can you?  I'm not good at it. 

The Surprise rule (SoC, p. 54) should affect the initial range. It's hard to be surprised by someone you saw coming from half a mile.

Entries which read Monsters are any non-human (or PC race) creatures chosen from the SoC Monster section, guided by the habitat notes in the monster descriptions. Use the Number Appearing listed in the monster description. Wild animals are specifically non-fantastical or magical creatures that may still pose a threat. 

D66 Throw	Encounter	Quantity
11	Peasants	1D
12	Peasants	2D
13	Workers	2D
14	Rowdies	3D
15	Thugs	2D
16	Rioters	4D
21	Soldiers	2D
22	Soldiers	2D
23	Constabulary	1D
24	Monsters	*
25	Private guards	3D
26	Patrol/Watch	2D
31	Adventurers	1D
32	Noble w/ Retinue	3D
33	Hunters/Guides	2D
34	Emigrants	2D
35	Monsters	*
36	Constabulary	1D
41	Fugitives	1D
42	Fugitives	2D
43	Fugitives	3D
44	Vigilantes	2D
45	Bandits	3D
46	Ambushing Brigands	3D
51	Merchant	1
52	Merchant caravan	3D
53	Pilgrims	2D
54	Religious Procession	5D
55	Beggars	1D
56	Private guards	2D
61	Religious mob	5D
62	Noble party	2D
63	Magicians	1D
64	Monsters	*
65	Wild animals	2D
66	Diplomatic Envoy	3D

When the encounter happens, the Referee should make a Reaction throw (SoC, p. 48) to determine the initial attitude of the NPCs to the PCs. 

I recommend taking a look at this post about making these generic encounters specific and memorable. Any of these NPCs could become allies, adversaries or victims of the PCs.

Image credit: public domain